As a sports fan, I hate the implication that all athletes are either creeps or fundies.

[Bleacher Creature]

First off, this is NOT a Tiger Woods post, although I will admit that the media coverage of his situation has gotten me thinking. That said, every single story I ever see about athletes and their off-the-field behavior focuses on people who are either: (1) thugs who are involved in drugs, violence against women, etc., or (2) fundies whose "pristine" personal behavior is the result of over-the-top moralizing and irrational judgments as to what is and is not acceptable behavior. I realize that there is almost no chance of this happening, but there is a middle ground between people like Larry Johnson (the former Chiefs/current Bengals running back who has a history of violence against women and homophobia) and people like Tim Tebow (who drops Bible verses into just about every interview he participates in and advertises his decision to "save himself" for marriage to anyone who will listen).

[Captain Hilts]

1. It's not true. My man, Mookie Wilson is an example.

He's religious, but not a knock you over the head guy.

[NightWatcher]

2. it's just that we rarely hear about the antics of "good" athletes. I submit Warrick Dunn

Dunn, a former Florida State University star who played in the NFL for 12 seasons, has assisted 90 single parents and 243 children in three states. They include 37 mothers and 100 children in the Tampa Bay area, 25 mothers and 74 children and dependants in his hometown of Baton Rouge, La.; 26 mothers and 64 children and dependants in Atlanta, where he played from 2002 to 2007; and two fathers and five children in Tallahassee and Tampa.

Each year, Habitat for Humanity, which handles the construction or refurbishing, nominates home recipients, and the Warrick Dunn Foundation pick the winners based upon the recipients' needs and challenges.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/dec/08/081132/ex-buc-dunn-helps-more-single-parent-families-move/

and

http://www.athletesforhope.org/

[PVnRT]

7. Stories like that don't generate $$$

Charles Woodson recently gave $2 million to a children's hospital in Michigan....not a peep was heard about it.

[mainer]

3. I'm not aware of athletes as fundies. But definitely too much testosterone.

I wonder if some of their sexual misbehavior is just having "too much" of what makes them great athletes, plus maybe some illicit steroids on the side.

(Plus, of course, having great bodies and wealth that invites women to throw themselves at them. )

[FSogol]

4. Did you see this story on former NBA player, Luc Longley?

http://chicagoist.com/2009/12/08/luc_longley_bull_bidder_science_win.php

[blondeatlast]

11. Very cool. Steve Nash is another one; unapologetically liberal in my

blood red town--and unafraid to speak his mind.

[Bleacher Creature]

15. Agree, very cool. Kyle Orton is another good one.

He is a huge environmentalist and was active in College Democrats while at Purdue. I've read a couple of times that his Prius stands out in the Broncos players' parking lot, alongside rows and rows of mammoth SUVs.

[KharmaTrain]

5. How About Arrogant, Pampered Jerks...

I'm a big sports fan and in a past life covered many a sports event. While I met many down-to-earth athletes, I also met many who thought cause they could catch a ball or knock a guy on his ass, he had some special gift that made him special as well. It meant having teachers prop up grades or come up with special "projects" to make sure they maintained the minimum GPA to stay elligible or getting cash under the table from zealous alumni. Many live in a bubble where they can display all types of obnoxious behavior (and sadly sometimes self-destructive) cause they are "winners".

I don't judge atheletes by their faith (or their desire to "witness") but by their overall character. For example, the other day I spoke with a buddy who covered golf and knew Tiger. When I asked him if he had seen examples of Tiger's philandering, he said "no comment", but did mention how the guy was a total boor...a very self-centered and arrogant person who expected special treatment.

[Fading Captain]

6. It may be a dumb implication, but why do you hate it?

I am a sports fan, and I don't give a fuck what these people think.

[Bleacher Creature]

17. "Hate" was a poor choice of words.

I was more trying to get the point across that it annoys me when I see only stories about jackasses who get into trouble or about fundies who do good stuff because they believe that it is their duty to "save" people. It really has nothing to do with sports, but more to do with a tendency to paint everything and everyone in black-and-white.

[Stinky The Clown]

8. If someone is "saving himself" for marriage, he is dating his hand.

Without a doubt.

[zipplewrath]

9. True of almost anything

You'll rarely hear about the more admirable characteristics of almost any group of people. Pick a profession and save maybe a few "first responders" or folks in uniform, you don't really hear much about the volunteering banker that is guiding the local charity through fiscal woes. You won't hear much about the construction worker that helps Habitat on the weekend with his skills. And really, even when you do hear much about some public personality, it is often met with scepticism in the sense of "he's only doing it for the publicity". When Shaq was playing here, he would often do acts of charity or kindness but then ask the press not to reveal his involvement. 1) He really wanted to "stay in control" of what he chose to do and not do (i.e. not have to hear that he "helped that guy but he can't take time to do this") and 2) He didn't want it to be undermined by some guy saying he just showed up "for the publicity". Kinda deflates the 12 year old that receives a visit from Shaq to hear on the news that he "did it for the publicity".

[Fumesucker]

10. That's not true, some athletesare creeps *and* fundies..

Just because you are a member of the one group doesn't mean you can't be a member of the other too.

:evilgrin:

[Romulox]

12. Bullshit. I could name a dozen decent sportsmen/women in Detroit alone...

You've probably never heard of them because they don't make asses of themselves on the national news. :shrug:

[Bleacher Creature]

16. Agree, but that's kind of my point.

Although I admit to wording it kind of poorly. I don't look to athletes to be role models one way or the other, but you can't deny that they have the power to do a lot of good. My complaint is that you only seem to hear about the ones who make asses of themselves or, in the alternative, ones who seem to be virtuous because they are ultra-religious. There are plenty of athletes who do good work and who don't shove the religious stuff down everyone's throats.

[la_chupa]

13. I know what you mean

There are examples out there of normal people who play professional sports, but there really do seem to be two extremes like you said. I don't get the whole pointing to the sky when you score a touchdown. Please get over yourself.

I think of it this way, when I had a religion class in college we talked about how some of the most hard core fundies came about because they lacked any sense of moderation. Take alcohol for example. For these people who completly lack scale to drink any alcohol at all will mean that they turn into drunken wife beaters so they turned drinking alcohol into a sin and made it totally taboo.

all or nothing

I suppose it could be the same for professional athletes. They have so many opportunities to be raging idiots that if they aren't total fundies they can't handle it.

I didn't explain this well. I'm at work and people keep pestering me with petty work related crap but you probably get the idea.

[Javaman]

14. As a sports fan, I don't care.

They are paid to perform. They get millions of dollars to play a kids game (no matter the sport, they are all kids games).

if they want to invoke an invisible being or be a jackass, then that's their business.

When they break the law, they go to jail.

I mean, this bizarre idolization of sports figures still has me baffled after all these years.

But then again, the continued degradation of society only lends to the concept of putting these athletes on a pedestal. As we become poorer and poorer, the unattainable becomes that much more incredible. Thus professional athletes become idols. It also doesn't hurt to have a massive marketing campaign behind them as well.